asëa

The meaning and etymology of asëa is a matter of debate. In 1998, William Cloud Hicklin claimed to have "ongoing discussion about the origins of [the word athelas]" with Christopher Tolkien, and wrote in a forum message that:

"a very late note [by Tolkien] (1970 or later) says that Asea [...] was the name in Quenya, regularly adapted and compounded with -las in Sindarin. The plant was known to the medical loremasters of the Noldor. The root is *ATHAYA, 'helpful, kindly, beneficial."[4]

Hicklin's assertion has attracted a widespread attention on the Internet,[5][6][7] and was reprinted in the journal Tyalië TyelelliévaNo. 15 (p. 31).[8] Hicklin's suggested etymology has also been picked up by Helge Fauskanger in his "Quenya-to-English wordlist", where asëa is said to be an adjective meaning "beneficial, helpful, kindly" derived from root ATHAYA.[9][10][note 1]

Since Tolkien's manuscript date from the late 1950s and early 1960s (and does not include any mention of the root ATHAYA), Hicklin's claim of an unpublished etymology dating from the 1970s remains unverified in published sources.

In his analysis of the Quenya words in "Words, Phrases & Passages in The Lord of the Rings", Petri Tikka has tentatively suggested that asëa could mean "foil" (gloss followed by a question mark).[12][note 2]

↑ Tikka's reasoning apparently stems from a literal translation of asëa aranion as "kingsfoil". Tolkien's translation of asëa aranion as "asëa of the Kings" is given in J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 100, and the note which says "athelas 'kingsfoil' appears on p. 49.